On March 23rd, the Department hosted its first annual Doctoral Student Research Competition. Ph.D. students interested in participating were required to submit a solo-authored manuscript of original research (i.e. not yet published) to a panel of three judges. Additionally, each participant presented their research and fielded questions from the judges during the day’s event. The judges then evaluated both the written paper and the verbal presentation and identified this year’s winner – Yuleng Zeng. He presented a paper entitled, “The Last War: When Does Bilateral Trade Generate Commitment Problems?” As the winner, Yuleng receives $1,000 in travel funding over the next year to support his attendance at professional conferences in order to present this research. Congratulations to Yuleng Zeng!